1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to a battery charging system having a charging circuit making and breaking control responsive to the polarity orientation of the battery when carried by the charging system support means.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
In recent years, use of battery powered transmitters for the telemetry monitoring of hospital patients has gained rapid acceptance. Typically, after an initial danger of impending or actual myocardial infarction or life threatening cardiac arrhythmias, patients are transferred to cardiac care units in hospitals which utilize telemetry to monitor the heart for further arrhythmias. These telemetry transmitters are worn by the patient and send a signal to a centralized nursing monitoring station where the patient's cardiac status can be monitored and recorded. Obviously, the use of telemetry frees the patient and nursing staff from the burden of cumbersome wires attached to each patient from the nursing station.
Unfortunately, the annual cost of purchasing disposable batteries for telemetry units is not insignificant. Commonly, a disposable mercury battery in such an application has a useful life of only two days.
While the use of rechargeable batteries in hospital can greatly reduce costs, nursing personnel have uniformly disapproved of battery charging systems heretofore known in the art. In a large hospital, there are many people responsible for changing telemetry batteries during all hours of the day. Consequently, charging systems which necessitate manual control and supervision are completely unacceptable.